Female Spinal Column Shaped For Pregnancy

Female spinal column shaped for pregnancy, according to reports in BBC News, ABC News in Science and Nature vol. 450, p1075, 13 Dec 2007. As pregnancy advances, and the weight of growing baby increases, pregnant women bend backwards to balance the load. Researchers at Harvard University and University of Texas, Austin have studied the shapes of lumbar region of the spine in men and women and found a distinct difference in the bone structure. Female lumbar spines have a longer curve with more wedge-shaping in the vertebrae and larger joints between adjacent vertebrae. This enables them to bend backwards without putting too much shearing force on the discs and ligaments that hold the bones together. According to Katherine Whitcome, who took part in the study, "These differences are absent in the chimpanzee. So there is something unique about humans." The researchers also claim to have found a similar sex difference in the male and female Australopithecines - extinct ape-like creatures believed to be human ancestors. The ABC article begins with the statement: "Pregnant women who lean backwards to shift their centre of gravity can thank evolution for their awkward stance, anthropologists say."

Editorial Comment: The claim that similar sex differences are found in male and female Australopithecines is based on one (repeat one) incomplete specimen of each. The comment by the ABC that pregnant women should "thank evolution" is irrational. How can you thank a mindless process? We are reminded of the Apostle Paul's words: "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four footed beasts, and creeping things." (Romans 1:21-23)

It is far more logical to believe that women's spine were designed and made by the Creator God who made human beings male and female, and instructed them to multiply and fill the earth. (Ref. anthropology, skeleton, posture)